Ternox Games, a solo Ukrainian studio, says Sony ended its PlayStation publishing agreement without explanation. All 13 of its PlayStation titles come down August 23, including three made by other developers. Sony has not commented.
A one-person studio in Ukraine is losing its entire PlayStation catalog in five days, and says nobody at Sony will tell it why.
Ternox Games announced on August 16 that Sony had “unilaterally terminated my PlayStation developer and publisher agreement without giving me any reason.” All 13 of its PlayStation Store titles are scheduled for removal after August 23.
The studio’s next game, the well-received STONKS-9800, will now skip PS5 entirely.
What the developer says happened
The account is one-sided by necessity, because Sony has not responded publicly or privately.
“PlayStation Support refuses to listen to my arguments or even respond to my emails in any way,” Ternox wrote in a follow-up post, adding that self-publishing on PlayStation is now closed to them.
Speaking to TheGamer, the developer described the only explanation received: PlayStation cited a clause in the agreement permitting termination without a stated reason. That was the extent of it.
Sony has not commented on the termination or the delisting.
Three of the games aren’t theirs
The part with the widest consequences involves developers who had nothing to do with the agreement.
Of the 13 titles, Ternox released 10 itself over five years on the platform. The other three were transferred to its account by studios that partnered with Ternox for publishing.
Those three come down along with everything else.
“I’m really sorry that this happened and that I failed the developers whose games I published,” Ternox wrote. “But there’s nothing I can do about it now.”
What STONKS-9800 actually is
The game losing its PlayStation release is not an afterthought.
STONKS-9800: Stock Market Simulator launched in Steam Early Access in 2023, combining ‘80s anime visuals with a trading sim set during Japan’s bubble economy. It passed 100,000 sales in March and holds an Overwhelmingly Positive rating, with 97% of user reviews positive.
The PS5 version was targeted for 2027. Ternox says it wanted to ship a physical disc edition while doing so was still possible, given Sony ends disc production in January 2028.
STONKS-9800 is still coming to Switch and Xbox, and physical editions for those platforms remain planned.
The shovelware context, and why it doesn’t fit
Sony has spent two years clearing out the PlayStation Store, removing more than 1,000 titles in March 2026 alone.
That campaign has been broadly welcomed. Storefronts clogged with asset-flip filler are a real problem, and Sony has been more aggressive about it than its competitors.
A studio with a 97%-rated hit and a five-year publishing history does not obviously belong in that category. Whatever prompted the termination, the anti-shovelware explanation does not sit neatly over these facts, and Sony has offered nothing else.
What players and developers can do
Ternox has published a list of the affected titles so players can buy them before the deadline, and has asked the community to draw attention to the case in hopes the decision gets reversed.
Anything already purchased stays in a buyer’s library. Anything not purchased by August 23 becomes unavailable on the platform.
The wider point sits underneath the specifics. A contract clause allowing termination without cause is standard in platform agreements, and it means a storefront can remove a developer’s entire body of work on a week’s notice with no reason given and no appeal that anyone answers. Ternox is finding out what that looks like in practice. Sony’s silence is doing more to make the case than anything the developer has posted.
Article compiled and edited by Derek Gibbs (entertainment editor) and the Clownfish TV newsroom.
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Hat Tips:
Automaton West (August 2026), verified for the August 17 announcement, the entire portfolio being set for removal on August 23, the 2027 PS5 target and the hoped-for physical disc edition, the 10-plus-three breakdown of the 13 titles, and the developer’s apology to the studios they published
Video Games Chronicle (August 2026), verified for the full quoted X post, the 100,000 sales in March, the Overwhelmingly Positive Steam rating at 97%, the Ukrainian studio detail, and the continued Switch and Xbox plans
Kotaku (August 2026), verified for the “PlayStation Support refuses to listen” follow-up quote, the inability to self-publish on PlayStation going forward, and Sony removing more than 1,000 titles from the store in March 2026 as part of its anti-shovelware effort
eXputer (August 2026), verified for the developer’s account to TheGamer that PlayStation cited a contract clause permitting termination without a stated reason
GAMES.GG and GameSpot (August 2026), verified for the August 16 posting date, the ‘80s anime and bubble-economy premise, the list of affected titles published for players, and the request for community attention